Ghost Train
by silvers-edge
Summary: When Roy and Ed don't report for work one day, Al goes to check on them and finds both of them unconsious. What could be the matter with these two and is it a life or death situation?


Hey all, here's a plot bunny that I started writing a month ago at least and finally finished it. It came from playing AdventureQuestWolds. If you recognize where I got this plot from on the game feel free to pm me or just write it in the review.

I told Zaleone about it and she threatened me that if I didn't write it, she would... so I did :D HappiestUnderClouds beta'ed this for me and I really hope you all like it. Also, the drug names in here are fake. I pulled the names from a random name generator, so any referece to anything that actually has that name is purly accidental.

Also, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist

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><p>"Roy, wake up." Edward gently shook Roy's shoulder, trying to wake him up, but the man just grunted in response.<p>

"Bastard, wake up!"

Edward shoved Roy hard enough that he ended up falling off the seat he was sitting in and hit the floor hard enough to shake the bench he was sitting on with Edward. Roy's eyes shot open and he sat up, grabbing his head in the process.

"Did you have to shove me, Fullmetal? Ouch, that's going to bruise. What's the matter….why are you on a bench and I'm on the floor?"

Ed shrugged and looked around nervously. "I don't know; how'd we get on a train?"

Roy looked around and frowned. The rumble of the train wheels on the tracks rang in his ears and the train whistle split the air. "I remember eating dinner last night then going to bed; no memory of boarding a train."

Getting up off the floor, Roy dusted himself off and straightened his gloves. "Come on Ed, we need to figure out what's going on."

Ed stood up and walked down the train car with Roy. Train car after train car was found uninhabited, devoid of any life what so ever. It was only when they reached the last passenger car at the front of the train that they found the rest of the passengers.

The three other passengers looked up at Roy and Edward's entrance then went back to staring at the floor.

"Excuse me, but can anyone tell us how we got on this train or where it's going?"

The passenger closest to them looked upon them sadly and sighed. "This is the HH-109, and we'll all find out the destination when we get there."

Edward reeled back in shock and slight fear. A gasp escaped his throat followed by a few words that were too soft to be heard.

"Edward?"

"No, no, it can't be… we can't be…"

"Edward, what's wrong?"

"Throughout our search for the Philosopher's stone, Al and I came across many legends that surround death across Amestris, but there was one that was the same wherever we went, and it was the legend about train HH-109, otherwise known as the Ghost Train. It is said to pick up the lost souls of those who are dead or those who are about to die and take them to their place in the afterlife. It's easy to get on, but nearly impossible to get off….Roy, it means we're dead!"

Roy's face paled as the reality of the situation sunk in. His knees buckled and he fell to the floor. Thoughts of plans left unfulfilled ran through his mind and caused him to start to sink into grief.

"Dead…."

Edward leaned down beside him and wrapped his arms around him.

"Well, look at it is this way Roy, we said that death could never part us; looks like we were right."

Roy pulled away and turned an appalled look on his younger lover. "How can you be so calm? We both just found out we're dead!"

Edward shrugged and sat back on his heels with a sad smile on his face. "I'm calm because I've been prepared to die for years. One does not commit the crimes against humanity that I have and not accept that each day might be my last. We're together and Al's still alive, that's all I need."

"I recognize you now; you're the Fullmetal Alchemist. The world will be a lot darker without you. Well, let me be the first to say it, welcome to the afterlife." The spirit smiled and went to place his hand on Roy's shoulder, only to have it pass right through.

Ed's eyes followed this motion and narrowed with suspicion.

"Why can I touch Roy and you can't?"

The spirit looked from his hand to Edward and Roy and smiled. "It means you're not fully dead yet. Your bodies are still alive."

Releasing a sigh, Roy's expression melted into one of obvious relief. 'Alive,' he echoed softly, wrapping an arm around Ed's shoulders. His sudden gratitude towards the spirit plummeted when he saw the spirit's expression.

"Don't thank me, it doesn't matter anyway, there is no way off this train."

-.-

Al opened the main door of Führer Mustang's house and looked around for any sign of life. Two glasses sat on the coffee table beside an alchemy book along with two nearly empty dinner plates that contained the remnants of the previous night's dinner. Pulling his key from the lock, he headed into the room and listened for sounds he knew should be present.

"Roy, Brother…Anyone home?"

Silence rang through the room, only broken by the ticking of an old grandfather clock that sat beside the large fireplace.

"Ed, this isn't funny. I got a call from the research department saying you never came in for your weekend shift. They had to call in one of the other incompetent alchemists and they blew a hole in a wall."

Al cringed as he waited for Ed to scream at him for the insult to his alchemic skills; but only silence was heard throughout the building.

"Ed? Seriously, say something!"

Walking through the house, Al checked every room, frowning when his search was turning up no sign of the two missing men.

He stopped outside the last room in the hallway and hesitated before knocking on the master bedroom door. It was no secret that Roy and Ed were seeing each other, as Mustang's crew had thrown a huge celebration when they found out that the two were engaged.

The sound of his fist pounding on the dark wooden door reverberated down the hallway.

Al frowned when there was no answer. He was used to his brother sleeping through anything, but usually Roy would have been awake and greeting him in the living room by the time he got the front door shut.

Pushing the door open, he walked in to see Roy and Edward still in bed, sleeping away the afternoon. Roy was on lying on his back with Edward's head on his chest, and his arms wrapped around the blond. Ed's automail arm was thrown over Roy's waist and curled slightly, holding him close.

"Still asleep, guess that raid yesterday took a lot out of both of them. Still, they both know better than to sleep in on a work day. Ed owes me big time for lying to the research department about why he wasn't there today."

Walking up to the bed, he picked up the extra pillow and wacked Ed with it.

"Get up Shorty!"

Al frowned as Ed continued to lie on Mustang's chest, neither one moving. Ed should have been ranting about how he wasn't short and Roy should have been laughing at Ed's fit of temper.

"Brother?"

He leaned over the bed and took a good look at his brother and Roy. His eyes widened as he took in their pallor and he reached out a hand to shake Ed's flesh shoulder, only to immediately draw it back when he felt how cold his brother was. He repeated the action with Roy, only to have the same results. A fearful look crossed his face as his mind was slowly coming to a conclusion about the situation he had walked in on. In order to confirm it, he reached out and held two fingers on the side of both Edward's and Roy's necks.

He sighed with slight relief as he felt two weak but steady pulses. Snatching up the phone from the bed side table, he called the only person he could think of that would be able to help.

Breathing in and out in an attempt to calm himself, he used the ringing of the phone as a grounding force to get his thoughts in order.

"Hughes residence, how can I help you?"

"Hughes, its Al, I-"

"Hey Al, you will never believe what Elicia did today, she-"

"We don't have time for this, I need help. Something's wrong with Roy and Edward; I'm at Roy's place."

"On my way."

Al hung up the phone and sat beside the bed; legs pulled up to his chest and hugged close as he rested his head on his knees, trying everything in his power to keep himself from falling apart.

-.-

"So you're saying that we're dead no matter what?"

The spirit nodded at Roy's question and walked back over to the bench he was sitting on before. "It would be useless to go back anyway, time works differently here. A few hours here could be a few hours there, a few days, or more, so who knows how much time would have passed if you went back."

Edward's eyes narrowed as he thought about what the spirit said. "So, it's not totally impossible for us to return. What do we need to do to return to our bodies?"

The spirit sighed and passed a scroll over to Edward. Unrolling it, Edward dropped it as he fell to his knees and grabbed his chest, shuddering in pain.

"Edward!"

Roy leaned down and pulled Edward into his arms and looked at the ghost with fear in his eyes. He could feel Edward shaking in his arms as pain ran through his body. Roy suddenly felt Ed go limp in his arms and sighed in relief that the pain had passed.

"Damn that hurt, what was that?"

The spirit looked at Ed slightly frightened and swallowed and answered in a weak voice.

"I don't know."

-.-

"Al, where are you?"

Al looked up from his place on the floor beside the bed in order to answer Hughes.

"In here, hurry!" Worry and relief flooded his voice at the same time.

The bedroom door flew open and Hughes ran in followed by four military EMT's with two stretchers. Pronouncing the two stable enough for transport, they moved them both to the stretchers and left, Hughes and Al following behind.

"Thank you for calling for help Hughes, but how did you know that they needed medical help?"

"You said that something is wrong with Ed and Roy and that you needed help. The only reason I can see them needing help is if there is something medically wrong with them."

"Hmm, that's true. I wonder what's wrong with them."

They walked out of the house and to the car before Hughes answered him. "I don't know Al, but with those two, you know everything will work out alright."

Twenty minutes later found Al and Hughes at the hospital waiting to hear how the two were doing. Hughes had called Gracia to tell her what was going on and she decided to remain at home and keep Elicia busy. Hawkeye and the rest of Mustang's team would be over after work was done and their attempts at keeping the situation under wraps were complete. Forty minutes after they arrived, both were starting to pace the waiting room.

"Is Alphonse Elric and Maes Hughes here?"

The two looked over to the doctor standing in the doorway and stood up. They followed the doctor into a private room.

"How are they Doctor?"

The doctor sighed and motioned for them to sit down. "Mr. Elric suffered a cardiac arrest and we had to defibrillate him. Once they were both stable, we drew blood and found a complex and rare drug in their systems. Do either of you know where they may have come in contact with Nitroseros?

"Not that I'm aware-" Al stopped in mid sentence, a strange look passing over his face, "Wait, yes. They were both exposed to Ascethron, which after being exposed to a lot of water and then dehydrated quickly causes the chemical reaction to yield Nitroseros."

The doctor nodded and stood up. "Well then, if you would like I could show you to their room. Since they are both high priority personnel, they are in a separate section of the ICU that only people with the correct access code can get into. Be prepared, we have them hooked up to IV's to flush the drug from their system and they are also hooked up to heart monitors and breathing tubes."

Walking up to the door, the doctor punched in the access code to the security panel and the door slid open, revealing a brightly lit room with two beeping sounds telling of the two's heartbeats.

Looking at the two men laying motionless on the beds, it was obvious that they had regained some color. They both watched for a few seconds as their chests rose and fell with each breath.

"They are both in a coma and all medical tests point to them waking up in a few days. It will be their will to live that determines it though. I'll leave you two here for a while, I have other patients I need to see."

Walking into the room, they both sat down in the chairs next to the beds and continued to watch their two friends in relative silence.

"Hey Hughes, they will be alright, won't they?"

"Of course they will," Hughes responded as he put his arm around Al's shoulder, "they are two of the strongest fighters I know. If anyone can survive this, it's them."

Al rested his head back against the wall, disbelieving of the situation his brother and Roy were in. Thoughts and memories raced through his head; from the transmutation he did with his brother to make Winry a doll, to dinner the previous week where Roy had ended up face first in his plate of food after he tripped over Al's cat.

"You're right Hughes, they have been to hell and back and survived, they will survive this as well."

-.-

"So Ed, I never did ask you what the HH in the train name stood for," Roy said as he sat down in an attempt to take Edward's mind off of the pain he'd experienced not that long ago.

Ed leaned more of his weight against Roy's chest and sighed, knowing Roy wouldn't like the answer.

"The train's full name is Heaven-Hell 109. Its final destination is either Heaven or Hell, depending on where the occupants are supposed to go. Don't know what it's going to do with me since I don't believe in either."

Roy stayed quiet, only tightening his arms around Edward in response, silently laying his claim on the blond and his unwillingness to be parted from him. Before another word could be said, the ghost leaned down in front of them with a confused looked on his face.

"How did you end up here anyway?"

"Well, the last thing we did before dinner yesterday was to head a raid to put a stop to a highly dangerous drug runner. He had a warehouse full of the hallucinogen Ascethron. He ended up breaking a water line and flooded the place. Roy here snapped and vaporized it all. We caught the guy and he's going to be in prison for a long time." Roy groaned and raised a hand to his forehead.

"Edward, we're idiots, we caused ourselves to land in this situation. The heat from the fire caused a reaction with the Ascethron and the water. We accidently created the poison Nitroseros and breathed it in with the water vapor." Edward looked at the scroll that he had dropped and sighed, knowing that they had to read the scroll eventually to return to their lives.

"Well, nothing we can do about it now. Our bodies are still alive so someone found us and got help. We need to know how to get off this train." He reached over and grabbed the no-longer forgotten scroll and unrolled it again. Roy, who was reading over his shoulder, cried out in outrage over its contents.

"What does it say?" The spirit inquired.

"Shouldn't you know what it says, you were the one holding it after all," Roy asked.

The spirit shook his head as he replied. "No, only the souls that are technically still alive can read it."

"Alright; word for word it states 'Some die while other's live; something precious must be lost so something precious can be gained; for your life to continue, someone must die in your place.'"

Edward threw the scroll away from him and buried his head in his hands.

"Why must everything I do come at the cost of human lives?"

-.-

Al looked up from staring at the floor at the sound of a knock on the door to Ed and Roy's room, finding Hawkeye standing there with a cup of coffee in each hand.

"Thought you could use some coffee and some company."

Al nodded and took the cup from her hand before taking a long drink of it. Feeling the warmth flood his system, he relaxed a little in his chair and turned back to stare at his brother.

"Riza, it's been four days since they were admitted and they haven't shown any signs of waking up yet. I'm…afraid."

Placing her arm around Al's shoulder, she gave him a hug and pulled him closer.

"Listen Al, I've known both Roy and Edward for a long time, not as long as you've know your brother, but a long time nevertheless, and they are both fighters and will wake up as soon as they can. They are probably just catching up on all of the sleep they have missed lately what with the drug raids, the political maneuvering and the hours spent researching. Ed would never leave you Al and Roy would never leave Ed."

Unable to contain it anymore, Al felt tears welling up in his eyes and run down his cheeks. Placing his hands over his eyes, he tried to stop the flow of tears, and the sob that tried to wrench itself out of his throat. Feeling another arm around him, he felt himself being pulled closer to Riza and he let the tears fall and clung to her while he cried for his brother who lay in a bed a few feet from him.

Unaware of the extra presence, Hughes stood in the door way, a sad smile on his face. It was a good thing that Al had finally let his grief out, but it was heart wrenching that Ed and Roy were still stuck in whatever part of their minds they were trapped in. It was a good thing that he was unaware of what was really going on with the two.

Hughes walked into the room and laid a hand on Al's shoulder before speaking.

"Listen Al, it's been at least four days since you've left here. Go home and eat a decent meal, get a decent night's sleep and shower. I'll stay here with Riza until you get back. I promise to call you immediately if there are any changes."

Shaking his head, Al straightened up and wiped the tear stains from his face. "No, I'm staying here until they wake up. I don't care if it's another week or a month, I'm not leaving."

Every day a different member of Mustang's crew tried to get Al to go home and rest, but he would have none of it. By the time the seventh day came around, Al was fed up with them and just wanted to be left alone to watch over his brother.

"Hey Al."

"Hey Jean."

Al blinked when he saw a cup of coffee in front of his face. His lips twitching as a form of thanks, he took the cup and gulped it down in a few swallows.

"How are the boss and chief doing?"

Al sighed and wrung his hands together. "Every test comes back fine, their hearts continue to beat normally and they breathe fine, but it's as if no one's there."

Looking closely at Al, Jean noticed the dark shadows under his eyes and how bedraggled the nineteen year old looked and decided he should try to talk him into getting some rest.

"Al, I know you don't want to hear it, but-"

Putting on a blank face, Al interrupted the familiar speech. "Don't even start Jean; if I hear one more word about going home and getting some rest while Ed is still unconscious, I'm going to give someone a black eye."

"Now Al, violence is no way to go, but seriously, one of us will always be here to keep an eye on them. You need to go home and get some rest before you end up in the hospital yourself. Al, are you listening to me?"

A few seconds later, Jean was picking himself off the floor as Al was shaking out the fist that had just made contact with Jean's face.

"I told you I would give someone a black eye."

Standing up, Jen walked over to the mirror in the bathroom and observed his rapidly swelling eye. "You have one heck of a hook there Al; remind me never to make you angry again."

"Just never suggest that I leave here and you won't."

Jean walked out of the room, and then came back in a few minutes later holding an ice pack to his swollen eye. Sitting down next to the younger Elric, he pulled the paper from his back pocket and handed part of it to Al who immediately emerged himself in it.

-.-

"I'm sorry Ed."

Ed picked himself up of the ground and looked out the window before looking down at Roy, face void of any emotions.

"No, I'm sorry Roy, I can't do it. I can't let someone sacrifice themselves for me and I can't essentially murder someone else for this." Sitting on the bench, he looked at the floor, not daring to look at Roy. "I can't go back if that is the cost. I'll stay here and you go back."

Feeling a hand on his cheek, Ed looked up to see Roy in front of him, smiling. "I would never ask you to Ed, I'm not leaving you here by yourself. There has been too much bloodshed in both of our pasts to sacrifice someone else so we can live."

Looking at their guide, Roy spoke the words that they both were thinking. "No one will die in our place. If someone must die, let it be us."

The spirit started laughing, causing Roy and Edward to look at him funny. After getting his laughter under control, the ghost smiled.

"Congrats, you pass!"

"What the hell do you mean we pass?" Edward's eyes narrowed into a glare that promised death unless he received an answer.

"Farewell you two." The spirit waved and vanished, stunning Edward and Roy.

"Roy, it's getting dark, what's going on?"

Edward looked around, sight going dim and found Roy unconscious on the ground.

"Shit…" Ed trailed off as he succumbed to unconsciousness himself.

-.-

Waking up slowly the next morning, Al slowly straightened up in the chair as he tried to work the kinks out of his neck and back. Hearing his back pop, Al grimaced, wondering how Roy could sit and even sleep in his office chair when he thought he could get away with it. Rubbing his eyes to get the sleep out, he found they were sore. The pain reminded him that he needed to apologize to Havoc for that black eye. Shaking that train of thought from his head, he reached over and took Edward's hand in his own and sighed.

"Well Brother, it's been two weeks since you two have been here and everyone is really worried. All of Mustang's crew has been here every day; would be here today except they had an inspection that they had to be present for. They all take shifts with me watching over you both." With a slight yawn Al stood up and leaned over his brother, kissing him on the forehead.

"I'm going to go grab a coffee and something to eat; I'll be back in a few."

With a squeeze of his hand, Al tried to let go and walk away, only to be stopped by Ed's hand tightening around his. Turning around, he stared wide eyed at his brother before moving next to the bed again.

"Ed? Say something?"

Edward opened his eyes slightly and smiled when he saw his brother. He opened his mouth to try to speak but only ended up coughing instead. Releasing his brother's hand, Al grabbed his cup of water off the bedside table and turned the straw towards Edward who immediately started swallowing a little at a time, the look of pain slowly vanishing off his face.

"Thanks Al. How's Roy? He fell unconscious before I did."

Al nodded his head over toward the second bed while answering the question. "He's good. His color is better and his breathing is easier. Hopefully he should wake up any time now."

Moving his head slightly, Ed smiled at the sleeping figure of his lover, who he knew was going to be fine. Turning back to his brother, he started trying to speak again when Al interrupted him. His head was lowered slightly and his voice was tense with suppressed emotion.

"Ed, thank you for not leaving me. I don't know what I would do if I lost you."

Not having the heart to tell his brother he nearly did, he smiled instead and tugged Al closer. "I wanted to thank you for finding us; if it wasn't for you we wouldn't have survived."

"Ed, you nearly didn't. You went into cardiac arrest shortly after arriving at the hospital and they had to defibrillate you."

"So that's what that pain was, we wondered what could have caused that."

"What are you talking about?"

Edward started telling his brother about what had happened when his eyes darted towards Roy's bed where he had started moving. Al grabbed the glass of water and stepped over to Roy's bed sticking the straw in front of his mouth as he started opening his eyes.

"Before you say anything, take a drink, it will help."

Roy gazed a little vacantly at Al before pulling the straw between his lips and swallowing, quite thoroughly enjoying the feel of the liquid on his throat. Pushing the straw from his lips, Roy ran his tongue across them before trying to speak with a still gravelly voice.

"Edward?"

"Here Roy, we made it back."

"That's a relief, I don't think I would have enjoyed where that train took me."

"Train? What train? Both of you have been in the hospital for two weeks with an accidental poisoning to Nitroseros."

"See Al, here's what was going on from our point of view."

As Edward was explaining to his brother about the train and the mysterious spirit that acted as a reluctant guide, he had to stop every so often to take a drink of water and let Roy take over for a while. When he came to the part where Edward dropped due to chest pain, Al filled him in on the reason, causing a pain filled look to cross Roy's face before he continued on with the story. Coming to the end of the tale with the scroll, Al's face paled and he grabbed his brother in a huge hug while whacking him upside the head with his hand.

Shortly after the explanations were finished, the doctor entered the room, surprised to find the two awake and sitting up in bed.

"Well, this is a surprise, though it would have been nice to have been notified as soon as they woke up," the Doctor shot a glare at Al who shrugged and admitted to just not thinking of it. "Anyway, now that you two are awake, we need to run a few more tests, and then depending on how they turn out, you can go home in a few days."

"Whatever you say, the sooner I'm out of here, the better; can't stand hospitals."

Rolling his eyes at the elder Elric brother, the doctor started heading out of the door, closing the door behind him.

"Hey Al?"

"Yes brother?"

"I know I already said it, but I'm going to say it again; thanks for finding us when you did. I owe you one."

"I do too Al. Name what you want and I'll do everything in my power to do it for you."

"It's enough for me to know that you two are still here. That's all I need. Anyway, I'm going to go tell everyone that you two are fine, and then I'm going to go home and shower and sleep. I'm starting to reek."

Hugging his brother and Roy again, Al walked out of the room with a bounce in his step.

-.-

A few days later, Roy and Ed were finally released from the hospital with instructions to take it easy and two weeks off of work. Arriving back at their house, they walked into the living room only to be scared half out of their wits.

"Surprise!"

Looking around, the pair could see all of their friends and family smiling widely with tears in their eyes. Both of their eyes stopped at Jean, wondering about the black eye, but they decided they would rather not know what had happened.

Hughes walked over to the two and pulled them both into a hug. "Welcome home you two, and you are both confined to the grounds for scaring all of us."

"Yes Dad." Roy rolled his eyes and smiled at his best friend.

Looking at his blond lover, Roy's eyes softened and he grabbed his hand in his. "I have nowhere else I would rather be."

Smiling back, Edward moved into the house, throwing his coat into the corner and pulling Roy along with him.

"Now let's get this party started."

The hours passed and the sky darkened and the party was still going full strength. Outside the house, the spirit guide smiled as he watched through the window at the happy scene inside.

"Congrats again gentlemen, continue on like the heroes you are and you will get the reward you both deserve. See you later."

Having said his farewells, the ghost pulled a conductor's hat out of his back pocket and stepped back onto the ghost train that was hovering just above the grass. Pulling the lever, the train rose a few inches before vanishing into the darkness.

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><p>I hope you all enjoyed this, I had fun writing it. Please review and let me know what you all think.<p>

~Silver~


End file.
